


Just an Illusion

by hazymerry



Series: dsmp lore [6]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Derealization, Dream Team SMP Angst (Video Blogging RPF), Dream Team SMP Spoilers, Gen, Hearing Voices, Hurt No Comfort, Internal Conflict, Internal Monologue, Memory Loss, Mentioned TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), No Beta, Panic, Post-Manberg-Pogtopia War on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Prison, Ranboo-centric (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:35:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29033289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hazymerry/pseuds/hazymerry
Summary: Ranboo goes looking for answers.
Series: dsmp lore [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2112843
Comments: 5
Kudos: 94





	Just an Illusion

**Author's Note:**

> AYO! 
> 
> I don't know why I'm just really into writing dsmp things right now.
> 
> Enjoy Ranboo + Dream suffering for 1300 words.

Dream was a villain. 

The one thing that the whole server seemed to agree upon, the one thing that had united seemingly ununitable people. 

Dream was the bad guy.

Ranboo had thought this too, initially. He had scrawled it into the walls of his own panic room, begging himself to remember that Dream was the reason. 

But watching it unfold, watching Tommy beat Dream down until the man in green finally admitted defeat…

Ranboo couldn’t help but picture himself in the same position. After all, Ranboo had blown up the community house. Ranboo had one of the discs at one point.

What happened to the disc anyway?

The more he thought about it, the more Ranboo found himself a direct comparison to Dream. He had manipulated people into thinking he was friends with them, he had committed terroism, he had willingly done what Dream said. 

He didn’t mean to do any of that.   
He really didn’t. 

But then again, did Ranboo even blow up the community house? Dream hadn’t mentioned Ranboo when the community house was brought up.

So maybe, the voice was lying. Maybe, the voice was indeed just messing him. And the disc had been some sort of weird coincidence. 

Either that, or Dream was covering for him.  
Just as Tommy did on Ranboo’s first day on the server.

Which was a good thing.  
Right?

Or was it not. Was it just the thing that got him torn between two sides in the first place? If Tommy had never dragged him to a stupid house which he knew nothing about and made him light it on fire…

Well he had willingly done that. He himself had thought it was funny just as Tommy did.   
But he didn’t think that was right at the time, did he?

No, no…

Why would Dream cover for him anyway?

Last he knew, Dream outed him to the entire server as a traitor. As a person working for both sides, never committing to one.

Ranboo’s own words rang in his ear, Choose People. 

He shifted his eyes to the mob heads on the walls of his “comfort” room. 

He didn’t find much comfort in it. 

If he couldn’t figure this out on his own, why not go searching for help?

Why not return to the source?

/

And so he did.

He could see it now, the small pocket of air connecting to his dreaded panic room. Why does he keep returning to his room of nightmares?

Ranboo isn’t sure. 

He just knows that it has been the only place to even attempt to offer him some sort of clarity.  
Making sure his armor is securely on, he leaps into the water, squeezing through the small hole, and into the obsidian room. 

He taps his fingers against the jukebox. “Um... voice?”

He waits. 

No response.

“Voice, I’m here. Is there anything you have to say to me?”

Emptiness fills the room, and crawls into the depths of Ranboo’s soul. 

Why wasn’t the voice here? It was always here. The voice was supposed to always be here.

Ranboo slams his fist into the hard obsidian wall. 

Ranboo needed answers.

And he knew the next place he had to go, he just wasn’t sure that he was ready.

/

The warden didn’t seem to have a shred of empathy in his entire being. Ranboo stayed mostly silent as the warden took him through the course of the prison. He only spoke up when needed. 

“I can’t go in water without armor,” he told the warden.

“Why not?”

“Half-enderman…” he pointed to his face and let out an awkward laugh. 

“Will you die?” 

“No, but it’ll hurt a lot.”

Sam just gestured for him to go into the waterway, seemingly not caring if Ranboo would get incredibly hurt or not.

Ranboo nodded slightly and turned to the water.

It’ll be fine. He assured himself. We need answers.

The water burns his skin as he tries to push his way through the dark water-filled tunnel. Pain overtook his senses, and for a second Ranboo didn’t think he was going to make it to the other side.

A hand reached out to his still body and pulled him to the other side of the tunnel.

Ranboo topples out of the tunnel, breathless. Not from lack of air, but from sheer panic. He looked up at the warden, who gave him a half smile before walking away.

He stands on a block and gestures for Ranboo. 

Ranboo follows his directions, standing where Sam was pointing exactly.

“Look forward. I’m going to lower the lava.”

The lava in front of him seemed unmoving at first, but after a minute or so he could see it slowly draining. For a moment he wondered if he should stick his hand into the hot liquid, just to see how it felt. 

When the lava was completely drained, Ranboo could see him from across the pit.

Dream. 

Dream just standing there, staring at him. 

Ranboo looked back. He contemplated going back to the outside, to see the green grass, pick it up and move it to a different place…

A hand came to his back, “You need to keep in pace with the moving platform. When you reach the prisoner, I will lower the lava back down.”

Sam smiled at him.

“Have a nice visit.” 

The platform started to move. Ranboo did his best to steady his shaking legs, as he made his way across the lava pit. He kept his eyes steady on the floor below him, desperate to not make eye contact with the prisoner.

When the platform came to a stop, Ranboo stumbled into the main cell. He leaned an arm on the wall, trying to steady himself. He kept his eyes wrenched shut, his breathing became erratic.

Dream won’t hurt you. 

“You know, of all people, I never thought you would come visit me,” Dream said.

Ranboo opened his eyes to look at the man. He looked quite different from the last time Ranboo had seen him…

When was that? Doomsday perhaps?

Dream was now maskless, and in an orange jumpsuit. His face bore dark bags beneath his eyes, and his arms and hands looked to be badly burnt.

Dream must’ve seen Ranboo studying him. “Oh yeah. I like to take a swim sometimes,”   
He gestures to the lava wall. 

Ranboo feels his head about to burst. “Why didn’t you think I would come here?”

“I don’t know…” Dream said. “I always thought that you preferred running from the truth.”

“Are you insinuating that you are the truth?” 

“Not necessarily,” Dream paused, turning to the clock on the wall. “But I might hold some answers.”

Ranboo stayed silent. His nerves seemed to be bouncing around in his head.

“Answers?” Ranboo asked, taking a step back. 

“So that’s why you came…” Dream murmured, eyes unmoving from the clock. “Answers.”

“Well, I suppose so, yeah,” Ranboo felt the awkward tension set over the two. He just realized that they had never exactly spoken before.

At least, not that Ranboo remembered.

They stood in silence for what Ranboo perceived as a long time. Dream stayed focused on the ticking of the clock, his hands holding each other behind his back.  
“Did I…” Ranboo started, but he wasn’t sure what to ask. Should he ask about the community house? The disc? The voice?

“Have we spoken before?” Ranboo decided on. 

Dream’s gaze almost immediately dropped from where it was stuck on the clock. He brought his hands to his head, and he stumbled backwards, bumping into his lectern. 

Ranboo watched his eyes go bloodshot in a matter of seconds. 

“Ranboo,” Dream muttered, crumbling to the floor. “I think you should go.”

Ranboo stepped backwards. “Of course man, I’ll just get Sa-”

Dream stood up and rushed to where Ranboo stood, grabbing him by the shoulders. Dream pulled the other toward him, leaning into his ear. 

“The voice…” he whispered. “It speaks to me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> they say every comment boosts my serotonin by 100%...


End file.
